The national security paper, meant to flesh out Trump’s norm-shattering “America First” worldview, signals a sharp reorientation from longstanding US calls to refocus on Asia, although it still identifies China as a top competitor.
The strategy also brutally criticised allies in Europe and said that the US will champion opponents to EU-led values, including on immigration.
Breaking with decades of attempts to be the sole superpower, the strategy said that the “US rejects the ill-fated concept of global domination for itself.”
It said that the US would also prevent other powers from dominating but added, “This does not mean wasting blood and treasure to curtail the influence of all the world’s great and middle powers.”
The strategy called for a “readjustment of our global military presence to address urgent threats in our Hemisphere and away from theatres whose relative importance to American national security has declined in recent decades or years.”
The strategy speaks in bold terms of pressing US dominance in Latin America, where the Trump administration has been striking alleged drug traffickers at sea, intervening to bring down leftist leaders, including in Venezuela, and loudly seeking to take charge of key resources such as the Panama Canal.
The strategy cast Trump as modernising the two-century-old Monroe Doctrine, in which the then young US declared Latin America off-limits to rival powers, then from Europe.
“We will assert and enforce a ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine,” it said.
Championing Europe’s ‘resistance’
Trump has sharply reversed many longstanding US principles since returning to office in January.
He rose to political prominence demanding sweeping curbs on immigration to the US, fanning fears that the white majority was losing its status, and since taking office has ordered drastic and high-profile raids to deport undocumented people.
“The era of mass migration must end. Border security is the primary element of national security,” the strategy said.
The strategy made clear that the US under Trump would aggressively pursue similar objectives in Europe, in line with far-right parties that have made strong gains in much of the continent.
In extraordinary language in speaking of close allies, the strategy said: “Cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations.”
Germany quickly hit back, saying that it does not need “outside advice”.
The strategy pointed to Europe’s lower share of the global economy – which is the result largely of the rise of China and other emerging powers – and said, “This economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilisational erasure.
“Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognisable in 20 years or less.”
As Trump seeks an end to the Ukraine war that would likely favour Russia gaining territory, the strategy accused Europeans of weakness and said the US should focus on “ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of Nato as a perpetually expanding alliance.”
Less on Middle East and Africa
The strategy paid comparatively little attention to the Middle East, which has long consumed Washington.
Pointing to US efforts to increase energy supply at home and not in the oil-rich Gulf, the strategy said, “America’s historic reason for focusing on the Middle East will recede.”
The paper said it was a US priority for Israel to be secure but stopped short of the fulsome language on Israel used even in the first Trump administration.
On China, the strategy repeatedly calls for a “free and open” Asia-Pacific region but focuses more on the nation as an economic competitor.
After much speculation on whether Trump would budge on Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed by Beijing, the strategy made clear that the US supports the decades-old status quo but called on allies Japan and South Korea to contribute more to ensure Taiwan’s defence from China.
The strategy predictably puts little focus on Africa, saying the US should transition away from “liberal ideology” and an “aid-focused relationship” and emphasise goals such as securing critical minerals.